


And Everything Nice

by Kaiyou



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anxiety, Apple Pie, Best Friends are Super Important, Fluff, Kenma's birthday, M/M, Multi, Relationship Confusion, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaiyou/pseuds/Kaiyou
Summary: Kenma is happy to wear Shouyou's name on his skin. Thier relationship is easy, and warm, and safe. He isn't so comfortable with the other names written on his body, though - especially since all they seem to do is drive a wedge between him and his childhood friend. That wedge gets especially bothersome when it interferes with celebrating his birthday, but at least Shouyou is there to make everything feel right again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is the last bit of my Kenma bday fics ^_^ We've had [Sugar](http://archiveofourown.org/chapters/18995731?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#comment_79169711), we've had [Spice](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8298329), now is the time for Everything Nice. 
> 
> Though it may take a bit to get there.

“And then it was just like, bam, whoosh! You should’ve seen it, Kenma! But Kunimi wasn’t phased at all, it’s almost like he just glided back without even thinking, and sent it straight up into the air in a perfect arc. He and Kindaichi are so good! It’s too bad they don’t get along with Kageyama, though it makes sense, he can be kinda a bastard sometimes - but still -”

Kenma ducked his head, randomly scrolling through his Twitter feed with one hand while he and Shouyou walked down the road. It was his favorite season. His best friend was in town for an impromptu visit. The world was good.

_Well, one of his best friends._

Being with Shouyou was simple, simpler than how things had been with Kuroo lately. When Shouyou took his hand it was without thinking, and his touch was warm. Kenma didn’t even mind when he pulled it close, the fingers of his other hand reaching out and tapping against the messy kanji inscribed on the inside of Kenma's wrist. It had become a habit now. Kenma liked it, though. He almost wished he wasn’t wearing a long-sleeve jacket, though knew what the kanji looked like. Soaring sunshine, gray most of the time unless Shouyou was feeling something especially powerful. The kanji turned light orange when the two of them were together, though, and lines of gentle color unfurled up Kenma’s arm when Shouyou touched it. He liked the feeling. Shouyou has a similar mark on his own wrist and had said that when Kenma touched it, it felt like butterfly kisses. Kenma liked that description.

It was so much easier than the heat he got from the black kanji in the middle of his chest. The mark wasn’t even Kuroo’s proper name. It was just the color Kenma called him - but it stood out for everyone to see in the locker room, and responded with swaths of jewel-toned rainbows whenever Kuroo touched it.

Not that he’d been letting him do that lately.

Things had been complicated by the dark green pair of kanji that had shown up on his upper thigh. Kuroo didn’t know about that one. He’d been the one to discover the marks in the center of Kenma’s lower back, though, coming up behind him one day when Kenma was sitting bent over to tie his shoe. The shock of Kuroo’s thumb tugging the waistband of his shorts lower had almost caused Kenma to fall to the floor.

Kuroo wouldn’t tell him whose name it was.

Kenma wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

The marks didn’t really mean anything, not exactly. Some people would blab about soul mates, or go on about how they were signs that two souls were connected together - but the truth was it wasn’t that simple. Marks could go dormant. Marks could show up in the craziest places. He’d even read a story about a girl who had an invisible kanji on her cheek that blossomed into brilliant curls of pink when a stranger bumped into her on the train.

At least he didn’t have that problem. Well, hopefully.

Shouyou’s was the only mark that didn’t trouble him.

They were out for Kenma’s birthday. Shouyou had promised him his favorite food from his favorite cafe. It offset the fact that Kuroo had barely said happy birthday to him that day, and even that was over text.

“Come on!” Shouyou said, tucking Kenma’s arm under his own and rushing him down the street to the cafe. It was pointless, foolish. There was no reason to rush. Kenma found he was laughing anyways, matching Shouyou’s grin as they ducked inside the door. “Phew, ok, made it. Good.”

Kenma raised an eyebrow and ignored the way people were staring at them long enough to tug his arm away and take off his jacket. “I didn’t know it was a race.”

“It was!” Shouyou said. “We had to get here before, ah...”

Raising an eyebrow, Kenma blinked at him, not really sure how to interpret the look on his face. “Before?” he asked, glancing at the clock. Fifteen to seven. He was fairly certain the cafe didn’t close till ten.

“Ah! I heard they had a special, two pies for the price of one if you got here before seven! Yeah, that’s it!”

That wasn’t anything Kenma had ever heard of, and he came here as often as Kuroo let him. “Are you sure? I don’t see anything...”

“Yeah!” Shouyou said. “Today only. I uh, got a message about it, yeah.”

Kenma studied his best friend critically, trying to figure out exactly what was going on in his crazy brain. Some things, however, were beyond even his capabilities. “Alright. I’ll go grab us a booth while you get -”

“Oh wait! Can we sit at the big circle booth tonight?” Shouyou asked. “The one where you have to crawl in, and it rolls around? I always wanted to sit there!”

Kenma wanted to remind Shouyou that it was his birthday and he should pick, but he didn’t have it in him. “Sure,” he said, ducking his head to hide from the smile that branched out on Shouyou’s face in reply.

It was easy to love Shouyou. He didn’t know how to express how happy he was that Shouyou’s name was on his body. It had responded the first time he saw him, blossomed orange on his skin in a way that had made him peek at it the whole walk back to the gym, annoying Kuroo to death. Shouyou had gotten onto him later for not mentioning it from the beginning. It had been a surprise - Kenma’s name didn’t bloom on Shouyou’s wrist until he touched the mark on Kenma’s. Marks were funny that way.

Soon, the redhead was bouncing to their table with a tray full of two apple pies, a chocolate cream pie, and two glasses of water. “Did you want anything else to drink? I thought about getting you a Coke, but I wasn’t sure...”

“It’s fine,” Kenma murmured, sitting up and reaching for the apple pies. He glanced at the chocolate cream pie as Shouyou sat down. “I thought the pies were two for one?”

“What? Oh! Uh, one offer per customer,” he said.

It sounded suspicious, but Kenma assumed the true reasons would become clear in due time. For now, he was content to just eat his pie, thankful that Shouyou’s mark was on his left wrist so that he could eat with his right.

The mark was exposed now that his jacket was off. Shouyou had fun tracing lines up Kenma’s inner wrist as they ate, sometimes making soft little sound-effects under his breath. The colors were all gentle pastel - starting out as oranges and yellows around the kanji themselves, then morphing into aquas and greens further up his arm. They followed Shouyou’s fingertips in a lazy way, fading after a few moments.

“Waka’s colors stay for longer,” Shouyou observed.

Kenma glanced at him. “Oh?”

He’d seen the kanji for the other ace’s name, inscribed in olive green on the bottom of Shouyou’s right ribcage. Had heard stories of how green vines grew out from the kanji when Ushijima touched it, knew how difficult things had been before the two had settled into an easy acceptance.

Ushijima hadn’t wanted to accept the marks at first. That had made Shouyou stubborn as well. For a while, it had also led to Kenma being a bit terrified of Ushijima. Every time he read a volleyball magazine, he could feel the intensity of the gaze of the other man whose name was on Shouyou’s skin. The thought of meeting up with him was terrifying. He'd even had nightmares.

But what Shouyou and Ushijima had was different than Shouyou and Kenma’s relationship. Once that had been established, things were simpler.

In that respect, Shouyou was lucky. As far as Kenma knew, his friend only had two names on his body, and he’d found an equilibrium with both of them.

Kenma stabbed his pie.

“Woah,” Shouyou said. “Ah, could you tell me about that new game you’re playing? The one with the castle?”

Taking a deep breath, Kenma looked at him, gaze pulled down to where Shouyou was tracing soft whorls on his forearm. Thankful. He was so thankful.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s historic. The main character is this warrior who’s really a princess, but she’s disguised herself because her cousin was kidnapped and her father won’t send troops to rescue him...”

It was easy to get caught up in storytelling. Shouyou was the best listener, adding sound effects where he deemed necessary. He got really into the characters, too, asking Kenma details about their backstory to the point where he was almost tempted to buy him a copy himself. Kenma loved it. Even just half an hour with Shouyou was enough to calm him down.

“This is the best birthday,” he murmured, loving the huge smile that broke out on Shouyou’s face at the words.

“Yeah?” Shouyou said. “Well, it’s not over yet!”

“Oh? You have other things planned?”

“Yeah!”

Kenma chuckled. “I’ll have to wait and see if -”

“Oh ho ho!” cried a loud voice, making Kenma look up in shock as a guy in a gray and white t-shirt slid into the booth beside him. “Happy birthday, Ken-kun!”

Kenma blinked.

A second person slid in quietly in beside him. Kenma stiffened, feeling pinned by Akaashi’s gray-green eyes. Keiji. Akaashi _Keiji_. The name burned like a brand on his hip, and he wondered if the green had deepened in his presence. There was an odd sensation in his lower back as well, but he was far more distracted by the heat in his chest as Kuroo slid into the booth next to Shouyou.

“Happy birthday, Kenma,” Kuroo murmured. “Sorry for not coming by this afternoon, I needed to have a talk with these two here.”

Kuroo’s eyes were curious as they watched him. It made Kenma a little bit uncomfortable, and so he turned his mind to the puzzle of why Kuroo had invited Bokuto and Akaashi to come celebrate his birthday. Yaku, or Fukunaga, or any of the rest of the team he could see, but these two - they were more Kuroo’s friends than his.

“We just had to come and see you,” Bokuto said, slinging an arm over Kenma’s shoulders. That was strange, but stranger still was the way the arm started sliding down his back. “After all, uh, it’s your birthday! Yeah!”

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi warned, hand sliding up under Bokuto’s shirt and rubbing his bicep. Kenma couldn’t help to note the shades of green that flowed down Bokuto’s arm at the touch. Upon closer inspection, he also saw that Akaashi was sporting delicate lines of black and silver running up his neck and onto the side of his face.

It wasn’t a surprise. It did bring a phantom pain to Kenma’s gut, but marks were often one-sided and Akaashi had never shown any sign that he wore Kenma’s name.

To Kenma’s surprise, Shouyou huffed in irritation. “You guys really suck at this,” he griped.

Kenma blinked at him. His best friend was looking at Kuroo, and he looked almost angry.

Shouyou was scary when he was angry.

“What do you mean, Shouyou?” Kenma asked, feeling even more dumbfounded when the redhead pushed Bokuto’s arm away and tugged Kenma closer to himself, glaring at the other two in the booth as well.

“Sorry, Kenma,” he said softly. “I agreed to be in on the surprise, but I didn’t think they’d be crowding you like this. Oh, and sorry, the two-for-one pie thing was a lie.”

“I gathered,” Kenma said, feeling peace seep into his soul as he stared into Shouyou’s brown eyes. It soothed him enough to look around at the others. Kuroo looked abashed. Bokuto was bouncing in his seat and making a faint whining noise. Akaashi’s face was creased in some expression Kenma couldn’t read yet, but it seemed like a cross between worry and annoyance.

It was Akaashi who spoke. “I apologize, Kozume-san. This is - well. It is a rather odd conversation to have.”

Kenma nodded, leaning into Shouyou’s warmth.

“Ah, you see. The other day, Bokuto was, ah -”

“I was washing his hair,” Bokuto blurted out. “It’s really soft, just wait, Kenma!”

Akaashi huffed. “Just tell him if you’re going to jump in like that, Bokuto.”

“What? Oh yeah! See, ever since we found Kuroo’s name on each other we’ve been kinda curious, see? Especially since you two are, ya know. We never found anything, but then I was tilting his head forward to rinse the soap out, and there it was!”

Kenma blinked. “What?”

Sighing, Akaashi leaned over closer, but Kenma still couldn’t see anything in the mass of dark curls.

He was surprised when Bokuto grabbed his hand and tugged. “Hey!”

“Oh! Sorry Kenma,” Bokuto said, squeezing his hand and looking at him worriedly. “It’d just be easier if you - ah, well -”

Kenma huffed. He was surprised, not stupid. Glancing at Kuroo and Shouyou for support, he leaned over, allowing Bokuto to guide his hands to the nape of Akaashi’s neck.

His hair was very soft, after all. It twined around Kenma’s fingers in a way that just felt right. He was so distracted by the sensation that it took him a moment to notice the way red ribbons curled down Akaashi’s neck, dark and deep.

“Oh,” Kenma gasped.

Akaashi turned his head and suddenly Kenma was cupping his cheek. He pulled back in shock, seeing surprise mirrored in Akaashi’s eyes.

“What does it look like?” Akaashi asked. There was curiosity in his eyes, a heat that Kenma hadn’t expected.

“Ribbons,” Kenma said, looking down at his fingertips like he’d find some trace of color there. “Red ribbons.”

“They’re beautiful, Akaashi,” Kuroo murmured.

“Ah,” Akaashi said, reaching up to touch his neck with one hand. “Well, that’s good.”

Kenma leaned back against Shouyou, feeling dumbfounded. He looked at Kuroo, utterly confused. He hadn’t known that Kuroo bore other names on his skin. They hadn’t spent time exploring - Kenma’s name was on Kuroo’s side just below his ribcage, so both of their marks were fairly obvious. To know that he had two more -

Well, Kenma had two more, and one Kuroo hadn’t had a clue about. He had a feeling that was about to change.

“Do you have one too?” Akaashi asked, undertones of uncertainty in his voice. “I mean, I know sometimes it doesn’t work like that -”

“Or they can develop, right?” Bokuto asked.

“Ah but. I mean. If you want to say. I certainly don’t want to pressure you, Kozume-san. This doesn’t have to be - well. It doesn’t have to be anything if you don’t want.”

He’d honestly never seen Akaashi look that forlorn. Bokuto was holding his hand - no, they were holding each other’s hands, neither of them looking at Kenma while waiting for his answer.

They loved each other.

It made Kenma’s heart hurt a bit. Hurt, but maybe not in a bad way.

“I wear your name too,” Kenma murmured.

“Really?” Akaashi asked, blinking up at him.

Bokuto was suddenly leaning in way too close. “Where?” he asked, all golden-eyed excitement.

“Ah -” Kenma said, cheeks heating up as he thought about the answer.

“Too close!” Shouyou all but yelled, pushing the ace away and holding Kenma protectively.

“Sorry,” Bokuto murmured, curling in on himself and scooting back over to Akaashi. He looked so upset Kenma almost felt bad.

“It’s in a very personal spot,” Kenma finally said, feeling heat still staining his cheeks.

Akaashi raised an eyebrow and glanced down, a smile flitting across his face as he looked away. “Oh,” he said, and just that one word alone made Kenma’s stomach twist in very weird ways.

He glanced at Kuroo, concerned he’d find jealousy there, but instead it was just more curiosity.

“So now it’s just me,” Bokuto murmured, sounding wistful. He looked over at Kenma. “We looked and looked all over, but haven’t found your name yet. But it’s got to show up, right? I mean it’s the only one left.”

“The only one?” Kenma asked, confused. “But I don’t have -”

“You do, Kenma,” Shouyou murmured. “Down here.”

It was easy to have Shouyou’s hand slide down his back and dip under the waist of his pants.

“Oh,” Kenma said. The fourth name. Of course.

“I want to touch it,” Bokuto said, looking over at him but keeping his hands to himself this time. “I want to see what it looks like -”

“Relax, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi chided.

“But what if it’s not me? What if there’s another Koutarou out there that he’s fated to -”

Kuroo sighed. “I promise he’s not always like this,” he mumbled. “Well, he kinda is, but he’s just really excited.”

Kenma couldn’t really find it in him to be mad, though. Not with the way Bokuto was looking at him. Sure, he was loud and brash - but Bokuto had always been loud and brash. It wasn’t what Kenma was normally comfortable with, but then again Shouyou was loud too, and Bokuto -

Well, he looked like a kicked puppy right now. No. Like a wet owl. Even his hair seemed to be drooping a bit.

Shrugging, Kenma turned towards Shouyou. “It’s fine,” he said, bending over a bit and trying not to feel utterly self-conscious about the fact that he was basically inviting another man to touch his ass.

Well, Not his ass. Close enough that he was self-conscious, though. He really hoped the colors went up his back instead of down.

He heard Bokuto swallow, and then lean forward. Kuroo nodded once as if in encouragement, gaze full of gentle love as he looked at the man behind Kenma. It just added to the confusion inside him -

And then there was a warm touch on his back, and he had to suck in a breath at the feelings that crawled up and around his skin.

Bokuto’s touch felt like pure joy.

“Oh, wow,” Bokuto breathed out, sliding his whole hand to rest on the small of Kenma’s back. “Wow, look at that Akaashi. Look, it’s so beautiful - ah! I feel it! It’s here!”

“Bokuto-san stop, you’re going to warp the neck of your shirt -”

“No, I feel it! Look here, right over my heart.”

Kenma twisted around, Bokuto’s hand never leaving his back as he turned to look at the spot Bokuto was pointing to. There in deep red letters were the kanji that Kenma wrote every day.

“I’m yours,” Bokuto breathed out, staring into his eyes.

For a moment everything felt like it was almost too much. Kenma was so extremely grateful for Shouyou’s presence beside him, the arms on his shoulders that grounded him when everything else felt like it was pure and utter chaos.

Bokuto’s eyes were full of hope.

So Kenma reached out and gently pressed his name, watching swirls roll out like candy-cane stripes on Bokuto’s skin.

He laughed.

“Wow,” Bokuto said, laughing and pulling back a bit. “It tickles.”

Kenma smiled, more intrigued than shocked now, and watched as the red and white marks slowly faded from Bokuto’s skin. He shuffled his hips and Bokuto’s hand fell away. They were all still smiling, though. Akaashi with a quiet depth of emotion he’d have to learn to read. Bokuto with wide-eyed happiness. Kuroo - oh, Kuroo. He knew that smile. Knew its warmth.

And of course his own personal private sun, Shouyou. He couldn’t see the smile on his face because Shouyou was resting his chin on Kenma’s shoulder, but he knew it was there.

He could feel the warmth in the idle touches his fingers were tracing on Kenma’s arm.

“Wow,” Kenma murmured, picking up his fork and cutting a bite out of his second piece of pie. “Well, happy birthday to me.”

Kuroo just laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit/talk with me at <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/kaiyouchan>!
> 
> Note 1/21/18 - updated this bc I'm wanting to set another story in this AU, so that required a change for Hinata's other soulmate :D


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